Richmond Hill, Ontario – July 12, 2016 – ComputerTalk Technology Inc. today announces that ice, the Intelligent Communications Exchange, is Certified for Skype for Business! The certification indicates that ice has passed rigorous third party testing offered by Microsoft for Skype for Business solutions. ice is a native Skype for Business Contact Center platform that allows users to build communications workflows that connect users with the right subject matter experts. It is one of the first contact centers to receive this designation.

“I’m excited that we’ve been able to partner with Microsoft on this certification for ice on Skype for Business,” says Chris Bardon, Chief Software Architect at ComputerTalk, “It gives us independent validation that ice integrate well with Skype for Business and that Skype for Business supports all of the features that ice implements. This certification includes validation of our outbound calling platform, as well as scenarios involving hybrid and cloud users, which will give our customers the confidence to deploy all of the features of ice on the latest releases and topologies that Microsoft supports.”

ice provides an extensible and powerful interface to create contact center applications. Using ice, organizations can leverage CRM data, skills, and speech to route, record, and report on voice, email, IM, webchat, SMS, video and desktop sharing in a UC contact center. Organizations in all industry verticals can use ice to integrate their business applications into their contact center and transform the way they interact with customers, their own employees, and partners. ice brings together information silos, improving contact center productivity to knowledge-based workers.

The Skype for Business App Certification Program is designed to offer Microsoft customers the added assurance of third-party solutions that have demonstrated a high quality experience and compatibility when deployed with Skype for Business. Only products that pass the specifications outlined in the Skype for Business Certification Program can be associated with this designation. All products that pass this certification program are listed on http://apps.skypeforbusiness.com/.

Founded in 1987, ComputerTalk, is headquartered in Richmond Hill, Canada. ComputerTalk is a global provider of enterprise-class Skype for Business native and PBX-agnostic contact center products, cloud hosting services and custom application development. ComputerTalk is a contact center member of the Microsoft Enterprise Cloud Alliance and a Microsoft Gold Application Development and Gold Communications partner. For more information, please visit http://www.computer-talk.com/en/enterprise-products/ice-contact-center-for-skype-for-business

Did you know that text messaging is the most widely and frequently used app on smartphones? According to Pew Research Center, 97% of Americans use text messaging at least once a day.

Studies show that giving customers the option to contact organizations through their preferred channels is the best way to improve customer loyalty and brand reputation. With so many people using text messaging, it makes sense to update your contact center tools so that your agents can help your customers via SMS.

With the latest version of ice Contact Center, agents can handle SMS from customers. Incoming SMS messages are delivered to agents through the Skype for Business client and agents can respond to them the same way they would an IM or webchat. This provides customers another channel in which they can contact your organization while allowing agents to continue answering requests the same way they do today, reducing retraining requirements.

Visit ComputerTalk's booth at WPC (#528) or drop by our WPC bash to learn more about SMS in the contact center. You will automatically be entered for a chance to win a Surface Book.

An option that is often forgotten is hybrid.

Organizations with hybrid contact center deployments have some of their contact center applications in the cloud and the rest on their telephony infrastructure on-premises. This model bridges existing on-premises infrastructure and the cloud, helping organizations move towards a full cloud deployment or maximize the life of existing on-premises tools.

For hybrid deployments, on-premises and cloud technologies should not only co-exist but also complement each other. For example, voice recording may be on-premises, while advanced interaction analytics and quality monitoring can be housed in the cloud.

In contrast to a typical office environment, the contact center is more complex. In a typical office, standard telephony and IT systems are generally sufficient. In a contact center, integration with third-party systems, data collection and recall, and numerous other tools that end users have need to be considered. This greatly influences service delivery choice and set-up considerations.

Contact centers experience spikes in activity, which lead to longer hold times and frustrated customers and agents. When organizations implement callback in their contact center, they are able to better align available resources to customers’ needs and gain operational improvements in key service metrics.

Here are some benefits to offering callback in your contact center:

A BETTER EXPERIENCE FOR CALLERS

Callers can request callbacks to avoid waiting in queue for long periods of time.

Callbacks increase customer satisfaction by freeing up the caller’s time. Callers can complete other items on their to-do list while waiting for a callback.

Customers are connected to the best suited agent which increases first contact resolution and decreases call time.

You are spending a day in the park with your family and friends when you suddenly remembered that you needed to call a technical support line. As your call is connected, you are given a choice - listen to music while waiting for the next available agent or go back to hanging out with your loved ones while you wait for a callback. Which would you choose?

A study showed that when offered a choice between a callback and waiting on hold, 2/3 of those surveyed preferred callbacks.

The same study showed that of the people who would prefer a callback over another option (for example waiting on the line and listening to music), 40% prefer receiving a callback within 30 minutes and 25% do not have a preference – they just want to avoid having to wait on the line.

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